Area 51 needs the long runway for many reasons. First and foremost, before Google Earth the Russians had spy birds. Having a short runway would tell them that whatever top secret plane we were flying did not need much room to take off.

By making the runway very large, there is no way to tell what is flying, what the take off speed is, or how fast it can take off. In other words, can the newest top secret aircraft take off and land on a 1/4 mile (or say 500 meter) stretch of road? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows.

But what I would like to do is get on that runway with a 550 HP Dodge Viper.